The present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing an optical scanning apparatus including a light source having a plurality of luminous points, and the optical scanning apparatus.
In the related art, there has been a known optical scanning apparatus which includes a light source having a plurality of luminous points, a coupling lens for converting light from the light source into luminous flux, a deflector for deflecting the luminous flux in a main scanning direction, and a scanning lens for focusing the light from the deflector onto a scanned surface so as to form an image. In this optical scanning apparatus, in order to accurately focus the light onto the scanned surface such that the image is formed, it is required to adjust the positions of the individual optical components and accurately dispose the optical components.
For example, a light source (a semiconductor laser source) is fixed to a holder of a laser unit, the positions of the light source and the coupling lens in three directions, that is, X, Y, and Z directions are adjusted by moving a lens barrel having a built-in coupling lens (collimator lens), and then the lens barrel is fixed to the holder. Further, when the laser unit is fixed into an optical box having a deflector and a scanning lens attached thereto, the laser unit is rotated such that a pitch between two beams in a sub-scanning direction on a scanned surface is adjusted, and then the laser unit is fixed into the optical box.